visually my face was a bit swollen and puffy. I also had some edema and lost a bit of weight when I stopped eating the grain fed beefs. you have to know I am a very sensitive individual to begin with, but even so I was surprised by the difference. I am actually pretty thankful for the change, I was working in a mom and pop grocery at the time and was able to get grass fed from one of the oldest ranches in my state sold at the store. I know work on organic farms and spend a lot of time with organc/grass fedranchers, they are good people!

extra 2000 per year, as I said, I have done the math. I eat about a pound and a half of red meat a day on average. I pay on average a little over 3 dollars a pound for my meat (Costco). The cheapest grassfed meat I have been able to find here (looked eatwild, as well as in-store) is a little over $7/pound. Add it up!

I think that was $2,000 per YEAR. Breaking that down it's about $166 per month, or roughly 27lbs of meat per month if you're paying $6/lb. (That's the price of grassfed ground beef in my neck of the woods. More expensive cuts are much more expensive). That all seems about right to me.

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honestly? no, not at all! the ethical arguments hold sway for me, but the health benefits are definitely what i'd consider marginal. i eat seafood, i'm not dying for the omegas. the CLA is nice, in theory, but practical difference? none.

I would guess this will be hard for many people to answer definitively...like many, I made so many dietary changes after going paleo, and this was just one of them. Can say that most of my prior inflammatory markers (beginnings of arthritis, various skin issues, etc) were taken care of by my new diet, and I assume part of that was from switching to properly raised meats.

Beyond the ethical arguments AND the difference in CLA/omegas, at this point I'm just worried about basic quality & sanitary standards for industrial meat. I would have a hard time going back.

CAFO meat makes my gums itch like mad, and inflamed. No idea why. I don't get that from small-farm beef. Other than that, no obvious difference.

However, in terms of long-term health, I do consider it more likely to pick up Mad Cow from CAFO beef; testing on US cattle is woefully inadequate. Also, CAFO beef is often needle-tenderized, which pushes feces and bacteria deep into the meat. Another reason to avoid if you can.

Always feel satified with grass fed without feeling bloated. The meat is also very delicious.

Likely that I have a much higher nutrient diet now due to eating a lot more "innards" and bone broth soups, side benefit is I actually eat LESS meat with grass fed, probaby because the grass fed is nutrient rich and free of toxins. I really doubt I need to take much, if any, supplemental B vitamins and most minerals. Liver, heart, bones, etc from the mass market are not very appealing to prepare and eat. But the same parts from grass fed animals look pristine, and thus are easy to cook and eat.

Somehow the inside of my body feels more "clean" which is most likely a metaphysical placebo effect, but still of great health benefit...

Other effect is a sense of gratitude because I know that the animals I'm eating were raised and killed in a humane and very earth conscious fashion.

yes! I was eating local natural hormone and antibiotic free but HEAVILY corn and other grain fed beef and it was making me inflamed and also kinda moody, it also was not very satiating, even at higher fat ratios. switching to grass fed made a huge difference, less inflammation, less appetite as well as stabilization of mood. you couldn't pay me to eat non grass fed these days, even though I am pretty sure I make less than anyone on this paleo hacks thing, I still manage.

visually my face was a bit swollen and puffy. I also had some edema and lost a bit of weight when I stopped eating the grain fed beefs. you have to know I am a very sensitive individual to begin with, but even so I was surprised by the difference. I am actually pretty thankful for the change, I was working in a mom and pop grocery at the time and was able to get grass fed from one of the oldest ranches in my state sold at the store. I know work on organic farms and spend a lot of time with organc/grass fedranchers, they are good people!

All I, or anyone else can tell you will come from n=1 experiments. The rest is all marketing.

I generally used to purchase the big tenderloins (which you can cut into fillet mignons) from Costco, and even though they're now double the price of what they were 2 years ago, the quality has gone way down.

The last time I bought one of those, I got sick each time I ate a slice, and my poop was very smelly in a metallic kind of way and sank - indicating toxic stuff in the meat. It's mostly lean or appeared to be lean, so it's not just in the fat.

I never had such a reaction from grassfed beef. I assume it's because they're cutting corners now and feeding the cattle crap like expired candy with the wrappers, and other stuff. Who knows what that cow ate.

Back then, I didn't trust ground meat either because it takes a single dirty piece of meat to infect many lots of meat that pass through the grinders, and a single burger would contain meat from who knows how many hundreds of cows. I saw many big packages of ground beef that looked red on the outside that had brownish meat on the inside when opened.

Bacteria only grows on the surfaces of meat, but ground beef is all surface, so you can't kill it by searing the meat, you must cook it until it's well done, and that damages the protein. So that's why CAFO ground meat is a very bad idea.

Small processors, such as those that produce grassfed animals generally will not mix meat from hundreds of cows together, so one burger comes from one cow, mostly. It's much safer and cleaner.

It doesn't mean you'll never get sick, it means the odds are much smaller. But, I like those odds and am willing to pay more for them. Plus, a better treated animal makes for a better quality meat. You aren't just what you eat, but also what you eat, eats. If your food eats GMOs, those proteins and fat and fat soluble toxins concentrate in your food, and you eat them too.

If your food eats grass, those proteins and fats are what you eat. Remember that gluten is a protein, and in celiacs, it's the fact that it isn't fully broken down that causes problems; I don't know enough about cow physiology to state whether it's broken down or not, but certainly cows fed grains (and candy with wrappers) have a different flavor and texture than those fed grass, so obviously there is some difference, and some over-sensitive celiacs have problems with CAFO beef, but not grassfed beef.

Most pesticides are fat soluble, which is why Robb Wolf recommends if you're going to eat CAFO meat, you eat lean cuts and make up the fat elsewhere.

If you look at GMOs, most are "Roundup Ready" and require tons more Roundup pesticide than normal grains, so whatever pesticide residue you'd normally get, is a much higher dose for GMOs. Some, such as corn, produce their own toxins throughout the entire plant, such as BT. You can be sure that when CAFO cows are fed grains and soy, it's of the GMO variety as the majority of those crops are GMO, and the rest is reserved for "organic."

So organic meat is still fed species inappropriate feedstock, but it has less pesticides and inherent toxins, but it's still not as beneficial as grassfed.

Further, each time you buy CAFO meat, you're voting with your dollars, and enriching a system that advocates, grain subsidies, GMOs, poor quality, bribes to politicians, species inappropriate foods, mistreatment of animals, and so forth.

Yes! The omega 6 and 3 ratio is really noticeable to me, I don't know if it's just cause I pay attention or cause I have inflammatory problems. Way less inflammation and STRESS on GRASS FED meat. I can't go back now.

Excellent question. I haven't noticed any difference. Ethical concerns and hypothetical health benefits aside, I persist with grass fed because to me it tastes much better, and I've found buying a half a cow and having all those cuts in my freezer is way more convenient than going to the supermarket all the time. Yes, it does cost more, and I've not done the full analysis, but buying in bulk brings down the price to where I can manage it.

extra 2000 per year, as I said, I have done the math. I eat about a pound and a half of red meat a day on average. I pay on average a little over 3 dollars a pound for my meat (Costco). The cheapest grassfed meat I have been able to find here (looked eatwild, as well as in-store) is a little over $7/pound. Add it up!

I think that was $2,000 per YEAR. Breaking that down it's about $166 per month, or roughly 27lbs of meat per month if you're paying $6/lb. (That's the price of grassfed ground beef in my neck of the woods. More expensive cuts are much more expensive). That all seems about right to me.